A safety ski binding of the above-mentioned type is described for example in German OS Pat. No. 28 38 904 (see FIGS. 1 to 5). In this known binding the spring is arranged in a cavity of the release lever which is pivotally supported on the sole holder. The release lever thus forms at the same time the spring housing. After a voluntary opening of the sole holder by operation of the release lever, this binding, however, is not in a position in which it is ready to receive a ski shoe therein. To reinsert the ski shoe or to close the sole holder, an additional manipulation is required. The release lever is first closed by applying a force so that the locking member again snaps in in the locking notch of the locking rocker arm, whereafter the sole holder can be closed by pressing down thereon. However, it is also possible to first insert the ski shoe into the binding to close the sole holder, and only then, for example by means of a ski pole to press the release lever into its closing position and thus the locking member into the locking notch of the locking rocker arm.
A further safety ski binding of this type is illustrated in Austrian Pat. No. 327 068 (corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 3,933,363). This binding has proven to be very successful in practice. In this binding the release lever is pivotally supported on the axle of the locking rocker arm and has a bolt which extends through both slotted holes which are concentrically constructed with respect to the axle of the locking rocker arm on both sides on the sole holder and also slotted holes which are constructed on both sides on the spring housing. In this manner, during an operation of the release lever, a removal of the locking member from the locking notch of the locking rocker arm exists, which causes the locking rocker arm to come free from the bearing-block-fixed locking nose to enable the sole holder to pivot upwardly practically freely about its pivot axle. However, following a voluntary opening of the sole holder, this heel binding is also not in a position enabling it to receive a ski shoe therein as by stepping thereinto. It can be closed in the two ways which have been described above.
The purpose of the invention is to provide a safety ski binding of the above-mentioned type such that after a voluntary opening it is in a ready-for-stepping-in position.
The set purpose is inventively attained by providing a spring which biases the release lever or the spring housing with locking member thereon in the closing direction, by the spring being constructed as a torsion spring, which opposingly loads the sole holder with one leg and the release lever or the spring housing with the locking member thereon with the other leg, at least in the voluntary release phase of operation, whereby, following the occurrence of the voluntary opening of the sole holder, the locking rocker arm is held swung against a bearing-block-fixed counterstop by the closing blocking member which is loaded by the torsion spring, until the locking member is again received in the locking notch of the locking rocker arm.
The group of characteristics which is mentioned first is known by itself from Swiss Pat. No. 500 730, however, in an embodiment in which the locking rocker arm is constantly under the action of the release spring, even during the voluntary release, the spring force must be overcome even more yet than is the case during an automatic release, because the support surface of the locking rocker arm extends upwardly inclined. In addition, the sole holder with the nose separating the two recesses from one another must first be swung against the force of the release spring, this even when the release lever together with the release spring according to FIG. 3 is in the upper dead-center position. A separate opening spring is provided for operating the sole holder; between the operation of the sole holder and the spring housing there is no forced control. Through this further measure which characterizes the subject matter of the invention, on the one hand, a favored opening of the sole holder is brought about, on the other hand, the bringing together of the locking rocker arm and the spring housing is accomplished, so that the heel holder again moves into the position in which it is ready for receiving a ski shoe therein. This method of operation occurs thus fully automatically after the release lever and after the sole holder have been completely opened. Through this the operating comfort of the conventional bindings, the advantages of which the inventive binding also possesses, is substantially improved.
If the release lever at the same time forms the spring housing, then it is preferable if, inventively, the (further) torsion spring is supported on the axle from which the locking rocker arm is suspended with one leg supported on the sole holder and the other leg on the spring housing or on the release lever. This embodiment therefore does not need any additional structural parts for storing and arranging the (further) torsion spring.
A further preferred embodiment of the invention for a binding is the provision of the pivot axle for the sole holder at the rear of the binding adjacent to the base plate, wherein the spring housing is preferably also supported on the pivot axle of the sole holder and same is coupled with the release lever through a slip joint connection, for example, a bolt, which is secured to said release lever and which is slidingly received in a guideway on the spring housing. The guideway is formed by a slotted hole. A torsion spring is supported on the axle from which is suspended the locking rocker arm and has one leg thereof supported on the sole holder and the other leg supported on the bolt which couples the spring housing with the release lever. Through this a storing of the torsion spring in a binding system, as it is illustrated in the aforedescribed Austrian Pat. No. 327 068, is particularly simple.
A further characteristic of the invention, in which the pivot axle for the sole holder is arranged in the upper region of the bearing block with the torsion spring being supported either on the pivot axle for the sole holder or the axle which supports the locking rocker arm, with one leg thereof being supported from above on the bolt which couples the release lever with the spring housing and the other leg thereof being supported from below on the housing of the sole holder. In both cases no important structural changes on the heel holder for storing and arranging the additional spring are required.
A further development of the invention consists in the axle which supports the locking rocker arm being supported in two slotted holes provided in the side walls of the release lever and extending concentrically with respect to the pivot axle of the sole holder, the release lever being supported from above on the pivot axle for the sole holder, and the sole holder having for the bolt, which is secured to the release lever, a recess to facilitate the release action. Through these inventive measures results the possibility of voluntarily opening the heel holder both by pressing on and also by pulling on the release lever. During an opening by an upward pulling on the release lever, the axle which supports the locking rocker arm acts as a pivot axle for the release lever. During an opening by pressing down on the release lever, the pivot axle for the sole holder acts simultaneously as a pivot axle for the release lever, whereby in this case the relative movement between the axle which supports the locking rocker arm and the release lever is made possible by the two slotted holes in the release lever. In both cases, the heel holder is in the ready-for-stepping-in position following a voluntary opening.
In this embodiment of the invention, it is preferable if the support areas for the release lever are arced on a radius to the pivot axle for the sole holder. Through this a favorable force distribution results during an opening by pressing down on the release lever.
In order to now be able to carry out in this embodiment a closing of the sole holder from its open position with a small use of force, according to a further characteristic of the invention it is provided that the pivot range of the release lever which is determined by the two slotted holes in the release lever can be rendered inactive by means of a voluntarily operable lock. Thus, it is possible to effect with an active lock a closing of the heel holder with little use of force, as was already discussed above.
This lock can now be inventively provided by a spring-loaded slide member, which is movably supported on the release lever in the longitudinal direction thereof, which slide member has at one end an operating shoulder which can be manually gripped and at the other end at least one hook-shaped gripping element, which by operating the slide member grips around the axle of the locking rocker arm.
A further easily storable lock can be formed by providing a spring-loaded slide member movably supported on the release lever in the longitudinal direction thereof, which slide member has at one end an operating shoulder which can be manually gripped and at the other end has a fork-shape and carries two support elements, each of which extend laterally of the locking rocker arm and by operating the slide member can be moved under the axle of the locking rocker arm and can support same from below.
The invention has furthermore the purpose of making sure that the binding, following a voluntary opening, is always in an exactly defined position, namely either in the disengaged or unlocked position or in the ready-for-stepping-in position, and no jamming can take place between the web of the spring housing in its disengaged position and the locking rocker arm due to improper operation, in particular due to a premature release of the release lever.
To attain this further purpose, the torsion spring is inventively provided on the pivot axle of the sole holder with forwardly (in the direction of the sole holder) extending and crossing legs, whereby, viewed in the skiing position and in the first phase of the voluntary opening, the downwardly extending leg is supported from below on a stop on the sole holder and the upwardly extending leg is supported from above on a bearing-block-fixed stop, so that the torsion spring is active as an opening spring. The spring housing has also a stop, which is swingable in the plane of the leg of the torsion spring oriented in the plane of the bearing-block-fixed stop, and which in this position of the sole holder, viewed in elevational direction, is oriented at a spacing below the mentioned leg of the torsion spring. The stop in the second phase of the voluntary opening, in which the web is in its disengaged or unlocked position from the locking notch in the locking rocker arm, engages and lifts the leg of the torsion spring off from the bearing-block-fixed stop and starting with the voluntary opening phase urges the spring housing into its closing position with the locking rocker arm, so that the torsion spring is active as a return spring.
Due to the fact that the sole holder on the one hand and the release lever or the spring housing on the other hand are inventively loaded oppositely by the torsion spring, the heel holder during a voluntary opening of the sole holder by operation of the release lever and also then automatically, attains its ready-for-stepping-in position, such as when the skier prematurely releases the release lever before he would have stepped with his ski shoe out of the binding. The comfort of operation is therefore substantially improved.
A preferred embodiment of the invention consists in the provision of a further torsion spring arranged on the pivot axle of the sole holder, one leg of which torsion spring is supported on the bearing block and the other leg on the stop of the sole holder and which constantly urges the sole holder into the open position. Through this it is assured that the binding opens reliably also under unfavorable weather and slope conditions.
A further advantage of the invention consists in the force of the first torsion spring (of the return spring) being substantially less than the force of the further torsion spring (of the opening spring which loads the sole holder). Through this a secure support on the sole holder is always assured for the return spring.
A further advantage of the invention consists in the force of the (further) torsion spring being smaller, preferably substantially smaller, than the force of the opening spring which loads the sole holder.